Polymers of olefins are important items of commerce, and these polymers are used in a myriad of ways, from low molecular weight polyolefins being used as a lubricant and in waxes, to higher molecular weight grades being used for fiber, films, molding resins, elastomers, etc.
Olefins may be polymerized by a variety of transition metal containing catalysts, for example metallocene and Ziegler-Natta type catalysts. More recently, late transition metal containing polymerization catalysts have also been discovered, and among them are nickel and other transition metal containing catalysts in which the nickel atom is complexed to a neutral or monoanionic ligand, see for instance U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,556, U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,241, U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,569, WO9842664, WO9842665 and WO9830609, all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes as if fully set forth. None of these references describes the complexes disclosed herein. Since polyolefins are important commercial materials, new catalysts for their manufacture are constantly being sought.